In the Best Interest of the Children
by SexiRKODiva
Summary: Cody and Evan's lives have been hard dealing with neglect, drugs and abuse until they meet two families that are willing to show them that not all people are bad. This is Cody's and Evan's story as they try to find stability in their lives and move on from their pain. Will they be able to trust and love their new families and friends, or return to their old lives. M/M
1. Chapter 1

**In the Best Interest of the Children **

**A/N This is a new story that I'm working on. I know that I should be working on my other stories but this story just had to be written. Its rating is Mature, that's going to be for future chapters. Its also M/M. Please review and let me know if I should continue. Enjoy! **

**Chapter 1 In the Best Interest of the Children **

**Cody's POV **

I didn't know what was happening, one minute I was sleeping in the living room on an air mattress, the next I was being woken up. I was being woken up by a woman saying that I had to get dressed and leave with her. I got up and tried to find my mother.

"Evan please I need you to get dressed and pack a bag." the woman told me.

"My name is Mrs. Lawrence, I need you to listen and please get dressed."

I grabbed some clothes from a suitcase I was living out of and walked into the bathroom. I knew why Mrs. Lawrence was taking me. Someone had finally called them, child protective services. I often wondered who and when the call was going to be made. I almost had the courage to call a couple of times but then I always thought my mom could change, that she would stop using drugs, that she would stop hooking up with different men. I sometimes I hated myself that I wasn't brave enough to make the call. I was fifteen years old and I couldn't even talk to an adult about what was going on with my mom. I walked out of the bathroom and grabbed my suitcase.

"Is that everything?" the Mrs. Lawrence asked, looking at my suitcase. I nodded and the lady shook her head. I watched as Mrs. Lawrence took a quick look around the small living room.

"I have been living out of a suitcase for months, same with sleeping on an air mattress." I told her.

"That's going to change Cody. No child should have to live like this." Mrs. Lawrence told me. I was happy she at least understood. I had prayed for years that someone realized that I should be living with my mother.

I walked out of the apartment to see four cop cars. One car had my mom's boyfriend in the back and in another car had my mom in it. I shook my head and followed Mrs. Lawrence to her car. I saw cops caring out brown bags that I knew had the drugs in there. I could hear mom trying to talk to me from the cop car.

"It's going to be okay Cody. I'm going to take you back to my office and explain to you what's going to happen." Mrs. Lawrence told me.

"Okay." I said. Mrs. Lawrence drove away. It took ten minutes to get to her office which was the local social services. Mrs. Lawrence took me to her office and informed me that she had to make some phone calls.

I was reading one of the few books I owned sitting in Mrs. Lawrence's office. Mrs. Lawrence had been in a meeting, I guess talking about me. She had finally came back into her office with a smile on her face.

"Okay Cody, I think we found a placement for you and if you're lucky it even might turn permanent." Mrs. Lawrence told me.

"It is it a foster home?" I asked.

"Well yes in a way, but this family hates being called a foster family. They treat all the children that come into their homes like their own children and has even adopted one of them. It's getting late so why don't we head over to their house okay." said Mrs. Lawrence. I nodded and grabbed my bag. I was tired and I was sitting in her office for hours, I just wanted to find a place to sleep. I got back into Mrs. Lawrence's car and looked out the window as she drove.

"The drive is about an hour and a half long so if you want to shut your eyes for a little while you can." Mrs. Lawrence told me. I nodded as I slowly closed my eyes.

I woke up and looked out the car to see that we stopped in front of a building. It was dark so I couldn't see much of the building but it didn't look like any apartment building.

"Is this where the family lives?" I asked.

"No, one parent works here and they like to meet the children here and take them back to their home because its another two hour drive from here." Mrs. Lawrence told me. I got out of the car and walked up to the building. I was close enough to see the words on the building. It read In the Best Interest of the Children Association.

**Evan's POV **

I laid in bed thinking. It was dark in the room but I could tell by taking a peak outside the shaded window that it was morning. Today was the day I was going to be shipped off to live with an uncle because no one else in my family wanted me. I sat up in bed and looked over to my bags that were packed. I quickly grabbed a back pack, dumped out the stuff and quickly filled it back up with things I was going to need. I had made a decision last night that I was not going to live with my uncle. I rather live on my own, even on the streets than live with him or any of my family. Uncle Andrew was going to take me to live with him today because my uncle Tom didn't want to deal with me anymore, that was his own words. I no longer lived with my mom because she was too sick to care for me. She now lived in a nursing home. Uncle Andrew could be verbally abusive, never getting physical but I didn't want to take that chance. I had lived with him before for a few months and I barely could take it. I was sixteen years old but I felt like an adult. I had been taking care of myself since I was thirteen, since my mother's accident. My mom was in and out of the hospital, leaving me to go from family member to family member, sometimes I stood in the house alone. Finally child protective services got involved and told my mom that she needed to find a permanent place for me to live. That's when she let her brother, uncle Tom take custody of me. That turned out to be a huge bust.

"Where are you going?" Uncle Tom asked. I was standing by the front door.

"I'm going to Dunkin Donuts." I said. I tried to hide my back pack behind me. Uncle Tom nodded

"Okay, make sure your back before eleven, your uncle Andrew will be here by eleven and you have a long bus ride back to his house."

"Okay." I said. I quickly left, knowing I was not going to be back by eleven. I walked the few blocks to Dunkin Donuts and ordered a coffee and a donut. I sat down, and started to eat, I had to think of where I was going to go. I pulled out some cash that I managed to save up, which was a couple hundred and I had my mom's bank card, which I took from my last visit. I finished my food and walked across the street to the ATM machine. I pushed in the pin number and checked the account first. I smiled when I saw that there was eight hundred dollars, I knew my mom wasn't going to need the money, and she wasn't going to give me any money. I withdrew all the money and snapped the card in a half and throwing the pieces in the garbage.

I walked to a bus stop and sat on the bench. I looked at my cell phone to check the time; it was getting close to eleven so I really needed a plan to where I was going to go. Maybe I could go back to New York and find somewhere to stay or maybe find a job.

"Excuse me, but do you know if I could catch a bus to New York City from this bus stop?" I asked a lady.

"Yes, there's one that is coming in about five minute, and it only cost five dollars." the lady told me. I smiled and thanked her. The bus arrived five minutes later and I got on, making sure to pay the bus driver and I walked to the back of the bus. I used the time on the bus to think about what I was going to do when got to New York City. I looked at my cell phone, turned it off and took the battery out. I was going to take any chances of the police finding me. I had no intentions of communicating with my family again.

I had been to the city before but it was never alone. It was busy and loud. People were walking everywhere. I was walking around when I bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." I heard. I looked up to see a short brown hair girl looking down at me giving me a smile.

"It's okay," I said. I stood up and smiled back.

"You look a little lost, wait are you lost?" she asked.

"No, I'm just looking around." I told her. The girl nodded. She stared at me, which made me feel a little weird.

"I know it's not any of my business but are run away or something?" she asked. I wasn't sure how to answer that but something told me I could trust her.

"Yea I guess I am. I don't know why I decided to come to the city though." I said.

"Unfortunately you're not the first to think that or runaway to the city. I'm Ajay and you?" she asked.

"My name is Evan." I told her.

"Well Evan, lets walk around the city. Its nice out" Ajay suggested.

"Okay." I said. Ajay and I walked around, looking at different stores. She didn't ask me any questions about why I decided to runaway.

We stopped at a pizza shop for lunch. I paid for two slices of pizza and two cans of soda.

"You didn't have to pay for my lunch." said Ajay.

"Its okay, I don't mind. You have been so nice to me, showing me around." I said. We started eating in silence.

"Who do you live with?" I asked.

"I live with my adopted parents." Ajay told me.

"When did you get adopted?" I asked. I took a bite of my pizza and a sip of my soda.

"I got adopted three years ago, I couldn't be more happier than the day my parents told me that they wanted to officially adopt me." Ajay said smiling.

"I should start trying to find a place to stay, at least for the night." I told Ajay.

"It's still early, why don't we walk around some more. You might find what you're looking for." Ajay said. I nodded and we finished eating our pizza.

We walked around some more. Ajay and I stopped outside of a building.

"I think you might find this place helpful" Ajay told me. Ajay smiled at me before she went inside the building. I took a look at the sign and read In the Best Interest of the Children Association. I thought about my options, more like the options I didn't have, I had to make a decision. I grabbed the handle and pulled the door, slowly walking in.

**A/N Please like and review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**In the Best Interest of the Children **

**Chapter 2 Finding a home **

**A/N Okay here is another update, It's a little longer than chapter 1 but that's how I planned it out. Please read and review Enjoy!**

**Shawn's POV **

I was working on some paperwork, making sure the files were in order. I heard a knock at my door and looked up to see Ajay standing there smiling.

"Hi dad." she said.

"Hi sweetie, how was your day?" I asked.

"It was good. I met a boy who was around my age. He's a runaway." Ajay told me.

"Did you bring him here?" I asked. Ajay was always bringing runaways here; of course it was the right place for them to be.

"Yes, but he's standing outside because I wanted him to make his own decision about coming in for help." Ajay told me. Ajay cell phone rang,

"Its poppa, should I tell him you're going to be late coming home?" Ajay asked. I nodded and Ajay left to answer her phone. I walked out of my office so I could meet Evan.

"Evan, please sit down." I said.

"Thank you. Ajay said that the people in here would be able to help me." Evan said.

"Yes we can, but first do you mind if I ask you some questions, nothing too personal. I just have to know if we are going to be dealing with any legal problems, my husband is a lawyer and he deals with any legal problems we have with families." I told Evan.

"My family doesn't know I ran away, I was supposed to live with my uncle Andrew but I ran away before he came to get me." Evan admitted. I pulled out a new file and wrote some notes.

"Okay, where are you originally from?" I asked.

"From New Jersey, I was living with my Uncle Tom and his wife. Uncle Tom said he couldn't take me living with him anymore, I don't even know why because I always listened and did what I was told." said Evan.

"What happened to your parents?' I asked.

"I never knew my dad and my mom now lives in a nursing home because she is too sick to care for me. I go from family member to family member and know one wants me." Evan told me. I felt for Evan I really did. I knew what it was like to be pushed from family to family because no one wanted you.

"Evan I'm sorry you had to go through that. Can you tell me why you don't want to live with you Uncle Andrew?" I asked.

"Uncle Andrew is very verbally abusive and I'm afraid it will result in physical abuse if I go to live with him." Evan said.

"I don't think it is a good idea for you to live with your uncle Andrew either, it seems to me that your family does not seem to care so much for you, and your mother is in no position to care for you. How old are you?" I asked.

"I'm sixteen." said Evan.

"Okay, I think we could help you. I just need to make some phone calls and start some paper work. Don't worry, I will not let your family know that you are here, they don't need to know until found a place for you to stay. I have to be honest though, there might be an amber alert that goes out for you, but don't worry, if you stay low and don't go out so much you should be okay. You can wait here in my office or go hang around with Ajay but stay in the building." I told Evan.

"Okay. Thank you for helping me Shawn." Evan said.

"Your welcome." I said smiling. Evan stood up and said he was going to find Ajay. I reminded him again that he needed to stay inside the building.

I started up Evan's file and put in all the information that Evan gave me. I also had to find a placement, a home for Evan to go to tonight, it was starting to get late already. After a couple of hours of working on Evan's file I went to check in on him and Ajay. Ajay was talking with Evan in one of the lounges we had. I smiled looking at them and it gave me an idea. I went back to my office and phoned Hunter.

"Hey baby, when you coming home?" Hunter asked.

"Hey Hunt, I'll be home soon but I wanted to talk to you about something. Did Ajay tell you about Evan?" I asked Hunter.

"Yes, Ajay told me that she met him in the city streets and you were trying to help him." Hunter said. I told Hunter about Evans life and why he ran away.

"It sounds to me that Evan has had it hard, what are you going to do about it Shawn? I'll help with any of the legal problems." Hunter said.

"I was thinking that maybe we can help more than that, like give him a home." I said to Hunter.

"Shawn are you saying that you want Evan to come live with us, as in us becoming his foster parents?" Hunter asked.

"Hunt, you know I hate the term foster, and yes I want him to come live with us. We have the room and Ajay is bonding with him well." I said.

"Shawn, are you sure about this, I will say yes if you are sure you want to take in another." Hunter said.

"Yes, I'm sure. We took in Ajay and look what happened, we adopted her." I said.

"Okay, fax me the paper work so I can get started and hurry home dinner is getting cold." Hunter said. I laughed and told him I would be home soon.

I walked over to Ajay and Evan. I saw down next Evan.

"Evan, we found a place for you to stay." I told him.

"For the night?" Evan asked. I shook my head

"No, for a little while, until we can find something more permanent. You're going to be stay with myself, Ajay and my husband." I told Evan. Ajay's eyes lit up and hugged Evan. I couldn't help but laugh

"Are you okay with that?" I asked Evan.

"Yes, thank you." Evan told me.

"Okay. I'm just going to get some paperwork from my office and we can go. I'll process your paper work tomorrow morning." I said to Evan. Evan followed Ajay to my car. I grabbed what I needed from my office and made my way to my car. I had an hour drive outside New York City to my house.

"Your going to like our house, its comfortable and you get your own room." Ajay told Evan. I was happy that she was trying to make Evan feel safe.

I opened the door to the house and called for Hunter.

"Hey your home." Hunter said walking out from the kitchen.

"Papa." Ajay nearly screamed and ran to hug Hunter. Sometimes that girl was too much.

"Food is heated on the table." Hunter said. Hunter looked at Evan

"Hey you must be Evan; I'm Hunter, Shawn's husband. Its nice to meet you." Hunter said. Hunter shook Evans hand.

"Don't worry, Hunter is not scary, he just looks that way, you will get used to him." Ajay said.

"Ajay, why don't you show Evan to his room and then come eat dinner okay." Hunter said. Ajay nodded and grabbed Evan's hand and pulled him upstairs.

"He's quiet." Hunter said, once we were in the kitchen. I nodded as I hugged Hunter closer to my body.

"It might take him some time, but I'm sure he will get used to us and he has been through alot." I said.

"Yes, I know. It was the same with Ajay and the others we took in. Shawn, you know we might not get to keep him." Hunter said.

"I know, I just want Evan to know he has a family looking out for him." I said. Hunter smiled and kissed me softly.

"Eww gross." Ajay said laughing. She was standing there with Evan. I rolled my eyes as did Hunter. We all went into the dinning room to eat a late dinner.

**Jeff's POV **

I saw Mrs. Lawrence and Cody standing outside the building. I opened the door for them.

"Hello Mrs. Lawrence it's nice to see you again." I said. They walked inside. It was late, about an hour past closing time, but I had told Mrs. Lawrence that I would take in Cody. I looked at Cody, he was only holding one suitcase.

"Hi you must be Cody. I'm Jeff." I said. I shook Cody's hand.

"Cody, Jeff and his husband is going to take you in until we can find a permanent place for you to live." told Cody. I knew from talking to Mrs. Lawrence that Cody was fifthteen and he already had such a hard life, living with a drug addicted mother who always lived with drug addict boyfriends.

"If you give me a minute, I'm going to lock up and then we can head home. It's a long drive back to my house." I told Cody.

"I don't understand why you don't move more closer to the city or into the city," Mrs. Lawrence asked.

"The city is way to loud and busy and you know we like our space and quietness." I said. I heard Cody laugh which made me laugh.

"Okay, I'm going to leave now. Cody, are you okay?" Mrs. Lawrence asked. Cody nodded and let her know he was going to be fine. I quickly checked and locked all the doors before I walked to my car with Cody.

"I hope you like the mountains and woods, that's where my husband and I live." I told Cody.

"I never been to the mountains but I wouldn't mind it." Cody said. "Mrs. Lawrence said that you have another child living there with you that you adopted."

"Yes, we do, he's seventeen now and we first took him in when he was twelve and officially adopted him a year later. He's a great kid but sometimes he could be a handful." I told Cody. We had a two hour drive; I could use that time to get to know Cody better.

"Where are you originally from?" I asked Cody.

"From long island, all over long island. I never lived in one place for too long." Cody told me.

"Yea I know how that feels." I said.

"Really, you moved around a lot?" Cody asked.

"Yea, until I was thirteen, then my older brother Matt took me off my dads hands and took care of me till I turned eighteen." I said to Cody. I wanted to tell Cody my story, because I felt that if he knew about me, he would be more open to telling me about himself.

"Do you get to see your brother?" Cody asked.

"Not as much as I want, he still lives in North Carolina; I decided to move to New York to help out the association." I told Cody. I began to tell Cody about why I wanted to help and how I became a foster parent. Cody had fallen asleep an hour into the drive. I could tell he was exhausted; he would need plenty of rest for the next couple of days.

I pulled into the long driveway and gently shook Cody awake.

"We're here." I told him. Cody nodded and grabbed his suitcase. Cody followed me to the door and into the house.

"I'm home." I shouted. I smiled when I saw Mark walking in from the living room. I knew he was napping, he had that just woken up look on his face.

"Hey" he said. Mark looked to Cody and smiled.

"Cody, this is Mark, my husband, Mark this is Cody." I said making the introductions. Mark shook Cody's hand.

"Its nice to meet you. I hope the drive wasn't too long for you." Mark said to Cody.

"It wasn't, I was sleeping most of the ride." Cody said.

"Good." Mark said.

"Where's John?" I asked Mark.

"Probably in his room." Mark said.

"Okay, I'm going to show Cody to his room and then introduce him to John." I told Mark. Mark nodded and kissed my forehead before going back into the living room. I led Cody upstairs to the bedrooms.

"So we have three bedrooms that are free so you can choose one and make it your own." I told Cody.

"You mean I don't have to share a room?" Cody asked.

"Nope, you saw our house, its big enough not to have to share rooms. Children and teenagers need to be able to have their own space" I said. Cody looked into the bedrooms and he had finally picked a room next to John's. Cody opened his suitcase and I could see he barely had any clothes in there.

"You can put your clothes in the drawers. We can go shopping tomorrow, I have been needing to go to the mall and get some stuff." I said.

"Okay" Cody said. I watched as Cody put the little clothes that he had in the drawer and put his suitcase in the closet.

"Are you up to meeting John, he's our son." I said when Cody finished unpacking.

"Yea, I would like to meet him." Cody said.

I could hear loud music coming from John's room and I rolled my eyes. I banged on his door. The music turned off and a few seconds later John opened his door.

"What's up?" John asked.

"Cody's here and I want you to meet him." I told John. John looked at Cody.

"Hey Cody, What's up?" John asked smiling. John was always so carefree; he could talk to anyone like if they were his best friend.

"Hey, nothing I guess. Jeff let me pick out a room." Cody said.

"Cool, what room did you pick out?" John asked.

"The room right next to yours." Cody said. John smiled at Cody

"Just a warming, I play a lot of music, sometimes loud." John said laughing.

"I like music too, its cool." Cody said. I was happy to see Cody and John getting along.

"Cody, are you hungry? I think Mark saved some food for us." I said. Cody nodded and we walked downstairs leaving John to go back in his room. We walked into the kitchen to find two plates of spaghetti and meatballs on the counter. I heated them up, and Cody and I sat at the counter top to eat.

"School is still on winter break for the rest of the week, but tomorrow morning I'm going to go to the school registry to sign you up at the high school." I told Cody. Cody nodded and continued to eat.

"Then we can hit the mall." I said smiling. We finished eating and Cody went to take our plates to the sink.

"You can leave the plates there Cody." Mark said as he walked into the kitchen. Cody left the plates there, not knowing what to do next.

"You can do anything you like, look around or go watch some tv." I told Cody. I saw John walking passed the kitchen

"Hey John, can you give Cody a tour of the house?" I asked him.

"Yea sure, come on Cody." John said. Cody followed John out of the kitchen. I grabbed the plates and put them in the sink.

"Baby, let me clean up, go relax, you had a long day." Mark said coming up behind me, holding me by my waist. I turned around and kissed him. Mark deepened the kiss and I had to pull away before it got more hotter.

'It's okay, I'll clean up and you go check up on the boys and make sure their getting ready for bed. I know Cody has to be tired." I said.

"Okay, don't work too hard." said Mark. He kissed me once last time before going to see what the boys were up to. I was happy that Mark agreed to take in Cody. I didn't mind having another teenage boy living with us. We had a few live with us in the past and it always worked out pretty well. I liked that John seemed not to have any problems with Cody so far and I hoped it was going to stay that way.

"Go to sleep" I heard Mark scream. I laughed and shook my head. There wasn't any venom in Mark's voice and that's what it made it so funny. I could hear silence and Mark walked back into the kitchen just as I was finished with wiping down the counter.

"Did you have to scream?" I asked him.

"Do you hear anything right now?" asked Mark. I shook my head

"There's your answer." Mark said. I laughed and shut the light off in the kitchen, heading upstairs with Mark to bed.

**Okay like it or not please review!**


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